Hi! Can you tell me about COLOTH? Why did you choose that name for the band? What kind of ideas does the band explore?
Hello! Nice to "be" here :). When we were looking for a name for our project, we wanted it to reflect one of Ukrainian symbols. Something that any of us, all around the world, would recognize and perceive as well-known and close to the heart. One of such things is wheatear. COLOTH is actually kinda transliteration of "ear" in this context. With some phonetic tweaks for getting a unique word. You can also find it in our logo, btw.
On the other hand, it's consonant with "colossus", which adds another, great and powerful meaning to the project's idea, and reflects our vision of great immortal Ukrainian compositions, that we love, and that we think deserve to be heard again, in other genres.
The first single 'Tuman Yarom' was released a couple of weeks ago. How does that make you feel? Do you feel that you have put the track out to the masses without any desire to change anything now?
This song was a jump-starter for our project. When we discovered our common passion to the old traditional songs, that was an entry point of the whole idea development. Now, when the single is out, we feel like all we've done so far is damn right. Many things could be done in another way. We could make it longer, we could arrange more variations, involve more musicians for the folk section, etc. But after rethinking all these aspects we come back to the feeling like we did it right. Minimal, simple(as far as how simple polyphony can be), and containing just pure sense.
Can you tell me more about 'Tuman Yarom'? What were the ideas behind the track?
"Tuman Yarom" can be translated as "fog over the ravine". It's an old Ukrainian folk song that our parents and grandparents sang when they were young. It narrates an innocent romantic story, surrounded by a plaintive vibe(which is also a traditional genre), and inscribed in the hue of nature. The attentive listener can detect the profound symbolism in this simple story, that, for the first look, describes the usual things, simple rural life and nature. The song's ending gives a good hope that true love in cooperation with fate will definitely find the right people.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
We are proud of being Ukrainians. And we are proud of a very unique music that we got as a legacy for our predecessors. You've definitely heard "Shchedryk" by M. Leontovych, also known as "Carol of the Bells". It's probably the most promoted, but still just one of many examples of such masterpieces. And being musicians with some experience already, we realise that we have the tools for letting the world hear such timeless songs again, with another sound and style, involving new listeners. This gives us inspiration.
How would you best define COLOTH's sound?
Originally we are just a guitarist and bassist, playing, let's say, around-death-metal music in different projects. For COLOTH our duet partially switched to a more folky and more acoustic sound, which is aimed to depict lighter music than we used to play. Let's see, maybe in further releases we will involve more folk, ethnic and traditional instruments, depending on the particular songs we're gonna arrange. But for sure, the metal section will stay, and maybe it will take an even bigger part.
Are you on hiatus now, just relaxing and looking for single feedback, or have you started composing new material immediately?
This single was released just before Christmas. So, the winter holidays anyway made us take a little break. Which is also a good time to get people's feedback and rethink how we started, what we've done and what's next. But the idea for the next composition has been under discussion for some time already. We don't want to spoil anything, but hopefully, we'll manage to create something bigger this time. The arrangement is in progress already.
Who are your main musical influences? How much of an impact have they had on your sound?
It's mainly technical death and melodic death, like Braindrill, Cryptopsy, Wintersun, Arch Enemy... But also jazz, classical music. In general, our musical tastes are pretty different, but the common love to Ukrainian classics and traditions made COLOTH appear. Sure our biggest influences helped us come to where we are now in terms of music we play and our sound, the metal aspect of it. But also this project is kinda new challenge for us to mix our modern skills with our traditional and, say, genetic properties. Which is damn interesting.
Is there a particular well-known musician that you would like to collaborate with on one of your upcoming albums?
Well, of course having Jeff Loomis with a guest solo would be wonderful. Victor Wooten's bass line can also enrich any song. But for doing what we do - the musician has to have the right feeling and some genetic skill to understand and perform. So it's probably a better idea to think of collaborating with some of our local masters.
What is your personal strategy for getting your music heard by a larger audience?
It's very new and tricky work for us. And we actually have a different view on what really matters and how to deal with it. First of all, what we think is important is to create something unique, record it at a high level, and shoot interesting video. These first steps are probably the most important(and could be even enough from some point of view) for our own satisfaction, and without it the next steps would be meaningless. After that we try our best in making our social networks active and interesting, and communicate with different thematic media and portals with the proposals to review our release. At the moment we are kind of a studio project, not playing live or touring, so such online activities are the only tool for us to promote our music now.
Do you have any hobbies besides music?
Oh yeah. Well, each of us has different musical projects besides COLOTH and the main job as well. Can tasting craft beers be counted as a hobby? :) Cuz it's also what we both like so much! Now seriously. Nowadays helping Ukrainian defenders is what all of us do on a regular basis. It takes a lot of time and resources, so probably can be called a hobby. Also, Olex likes to drive sport cars, and Mykhailo's passion is crafting leather goods in his small home workshop. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkiHKZUfYyJZMTdan82hhb0ItATPTgunR
Are you all supported by your families in your dedication to music?
Yes, and it's very cool and important. Doing even the greatest and coolest thing probably wouldn't be a pleasure, if we would be judged on wasting our time and resources. Thankfully we have the right people close to us, acting like a team in many cases.
How is the metal scene in Ukraine right now? Is it easy to play gigs and buy records there these days? And, is there any chance that you will wipe out russian terrorists from your country soon?
The world nowadays is interested in everything Ukrainian. It's awful what events gained this interest, but our bands get a lot of listeners and views. And our music became a tool for letting people know what's really happening, even if the official media can't (or don't wanna) see it. Also, it's a brilliant way to spread our art and culture to the world, preserve and support it, against our enemy, who's aiming to destroy everything we have. And we are so glad, that despite all the traveling limitations some of our bands still manage to tour and to play the shows abroad. The local gigs are also being organized and well-attended. The venues got technically prepared for the blackouts and air alerts, even some festivals got reformatted, moved to the new locations and relaunched activities. All of these activities always raise a lot of funds for army support. We are strong and united, and we are sure the terror will be terminated. Predicting the time, when it happens, is not the smartest thing. Because many factors and many countries are involved, but we just don't have another option other than fight and win one day.
Thank you for answering my questions. See you on the road!
Thanks for having us! It was a pleasure. Now back to work on the next stuff. Cheers!